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252 N. C. Department of Archives and History
From Edmund C. Bittinger. U.
U. S. Steam Frigate "Susquehanna,"
Hong Kong, China.
February 27th., 1852.
Hon. & very dear friend:
It is with heart-felt pleasure that I collect my thoughts together,
& forward them to you, for I shall always feel under very great-est
obligation to you for your kindness to me, & thus enabling me
to assist those who stood in need of my assistance, as well as help
my youngest brother thro' his studies at Princeton, as I helped my
younger brother thro' his at the same place. He graduated at
Princeton College three years ago, & has been pursuing his studies
at the Theological Seminary, & will leave the Seminary the last
Thursday in the coming May. He belongs to the Baltimore Pres-bytery.
The Rev. Dr. Alexander,17 late Professor of Ecclesiastical
history in that institution, & now pastor of one of the churches
in New York City, informed me just before I left the Country,
"that of all the young men that had passed thro' the Seminary, no
one stood higher in the estimation of the professors than your
brother." Wh: was very gratifying to my heart. He is the brother
concerning whom I wrote you some time ago, & desired you, if it
met with your entire approbation, to do for him what you so
kindly have done for me. My younger brother has, within the past
year, married, and consequently would not be willing to accept an
appointment wh: would render it obligatory upon him to be
subject to the Department & become a laborer on the sea. Should
you feel disposed to favor my brother by such an appointment, &
thus promote my own interests, you will place me under addition-al
obligation to you. The Rev. John C. Smith, Pastor of the 4th.
Presbyterian Church in Washington, will most cheerfully present
you with any information in reference to him wh: you may desire,
tho' I have not written a syllable to him on the subject.
Let me now thank you, Gov., for my comfortable accommoda-tions
on board this ship, for I have been informed that, by your
order, an additional state-room was, for me, prepared, & wh: has
been a study & has contributed no little to my exemption from
"The Reverend Joseph Addison Alexander (1809-1860), a son of the Reverend
Archibald Alexander, a graduate of Princeton, professor in the Princeton Theo-logical
Seminary, and a great theological scholar.

252 N. C. Department of Archives and History
From Edmund C. Bittinger. U.
U. S. Steam Frigate "Susquehanna,"
Hong Kong, China.
February 27th., 1852.
Hon. & very dear friend:
It is with heart-felt pleasure that I collect my thoughts together,
& forward them to you, for I shall always feel under very great-est
obligation to you for your kindness to me, & thus enabling me
to assist those who stood in need of my assistance, as well as help
my youngest brother thro' his studies at Princeton, as I helped my
younger brother thro' his at the same place. He graduated at
Princeton College three years ago, & has been pursuing his studies
at the Theological Seminary, & will leave the Seminary the last
Thursday in the coming May. He belongs to the Baltimore Pres-bytery.
The Rev. Dr. Alexander,17 late Professor of Ecclesiastical
history in that institution, & now pastor of one of the churches
in New York City, informed me just before I left the Country,
"that of all the young men that had passed thro' the Seminary, no
one stood higher in the estimation of the professors than your
brother." Wh: was very gratifying to my heart. He is the brother
concerning whom I wrote you some time ago, & desired you, if it
met with your entire approbation, to do for him what you so
kindly have done for me. My younger brother has, within the past
year, married, and consequently would not be willing to accept an
appointment wh: would render it obligatory upon him to be
subject to the Department & become a laborer on the sea. Should
you feel disposed to favor my brother by such an appointment, &
thus promote my own interests, you will place me under addition-al
obligation to you. The Rev. John C. Smith, Pastor of the 4th.
Presbyterian Church in Washington, will most cheerfully present
you with any information in reference to him wh: you may desire,
tho' I have not written a syllable to him on the subject.
Let me now thank you, Gov., for my comfortable accommoda-tions
on board this ship, for I have been informed that, by your
order, an additional state-room was, for me, prepared, & wh: has
been a study & has contributed no little to my exemption from
"The Reverend Joseph Addison Alexander (1809-1860), a son of the Reverend
Archibald Alexander, a graduate of Princeton, professor in the Princeton Theo-logical
Seminary, and a great theological scholar.